Hundreds of pounds of cabbage

As of May 2011, 46 million, or 1 in 7 Americans are currently on food stamps. These astounding numbers go to show that food security is a real problem for a growing number of Americans.

Yesterday we took a tour of the Capital Area Food Bank, accompanied by John Turner, Senior Director of Marketing and Branding, Justin Spencer, Food Resource Manager, and Lisa Goddard, Online Marketing Director.

We learned that the food bank warehouse holds 25.3 millions lbs of food at any time, 365 days a year! Their refrigerated trucks can hold up to 40,000 lbs of food at a time. The food bank serves 48,000 people a week, (28,000 of those served are children). The food bank purchases 15 percent of their food stores, while 85 percent is donated.

Turner, Spencer and Goddard stressed that food safety is number one; many members in the community they serve do not have health benefits. Many are children or elderly, and are thus more vulnerable to food-bourne illness.

The organization has donation agreements with HEB, Target and Wal-Mart, as well as local farms (like Vital Farms) and the Sustainable Food Center’s Farmer’s Markets. Turner said organizations like HEB and Wal-Mart were paying to have food nearing its sell-by date shipped to landfills. Last year, the food bank rescued over 4.3 million pounds of food from organizations like these. Turner said there is a big difference between a sell-by date and a use-by date; many foods are often still tasty and edible after the sell-by date.

Corn

The food bank also has four nutritionists on staff, who teach workshops to children and adults about how to make healthy food choices (even with limited means) and to modify typical recipes in a healthy way. There is also a small teaching garden to the south of the building.

“Hunger is a symptom of many other things that we cannot control,” Turner said. Unemployment, the economy, poverty and lack of education all play a part in contributing to food insecurity.

When asked about boxes full of sodas and junk food mixed in with potatoes, onions, whole-grain cereal and vegetables, the

staff explained that in order to receive food from some large organizations, like Coca-Cola, who also bottle juice and water, they must also accept some of their sodas. They do understand that, “It’s not just about the volume of food, it’s also about what you put in your body,” Turner said.

Food inventory at the food bank is ranked on a level of 1, 2 or 3, with one being the highest level of nutrition, and donations to pantries or individuals are meant to contain 80% of food ranked at a level 1 and 2 and 20% of level 3 food products are allowed.

The food bank is open 6 days a week. Last year, they welcomed 16,000+ volunteers, which meant they didn’t have to hire the equivalent of 44 full-time staff members. They always welcome new volunteers, corporate groups, families and children as young as eight are welcome to come and help to make a difference.

Capital Area Food Bank and the Blanton Museum of Art are hosting a film screening of the Award-Winning Documentary Dive! on Thursday September 15 from 6-8pm. Tickets are free!

We were pleased to host 17 members of the Florida Whole Foods Market Marketing team at our South Austin Farm last week. The group braved the morning heat, had tons of great questions and really enjoyed visiting our girls, as well as site-seeing and eating ice cream made from Vital Farms eggs at great restaurants, like La Condesa. Thanks for the visit, Florida! We look forward to having groups of bloggers, chefs and customers out to the farm in the Fall.

Check out some of our visitors’ quotes below:

The farm was absolutely beautiful. Letting chickens be chickens -
running around pecking the ground for bugs, worms, natural nutrients!
It put everything into perspective when Jason said “Our chickens don’t
just have access to the outdoors, they are outdoors with access to the
inside.” Just another example of the importance of knowing our farmers
and creating win-win partnerships. Thank you again for letting us see
first hand how farming is meant to be! P.S. La Condessa – AMAZING!
Highly recommend to anyone visiting Austin, TX.
– WFM Naples

Last night 18 or so of us were fortunate enough to enjoy the ice
creams at La Condesa made with your eggs … amazing! Since we
couldn’t all agree on a favorite, we’ll just have to make another
visit back soon (and get more breakfast burritos too!) Thanks for the
hospitality and the education, we’ll never look at egg farming the
same way. Keep up the good work and say hi to ‘the ladies!’
- WFM Aventura

Tell the chickens we had a great time hanging out with them in their
beautiful green pastures and thanks for all of the most amazing eggs!
– WFM Wellington

At vital farms pasture-raised organic eggs, the story begins with
organic, green pastures where their girls spend each & every day.
Their humane farming practices provides the birds with an outdoor
lifestyle where they are free to exhibit natural behaviors & forage.
- WFM Boca Raton

Hi there! We truly appreciate your taking the time to show us your
incredible farm. La Condesa was amazing – especially the ice cream
using eggs from Vital Farms! We’ll definitely be in touch.
- WFM Coral Gables

Thanks so much for having us out and showing us around. It was a great
learning experience and we’ll be taking it back to educate our
customers and team members. Dinner was really good. Didn’t have a bad
meal the entire time we were in Austin. What a great city. Thanks
again and we’ll be in touch if we need any more info about your
amazing eggs. – WFM Ft. Lauderdale

Thank you so much for the tour! We LOVE VITAL FARMS!!!
– WFM Palm Beach Gardens